Use of plant epidermis for determination of macrophytes consumed by Distichodus rostratus Günther, 1864 (Pisces : Distichodontidae), of Taabo artificial lake (Basin of Bandama, Côte d’Ivoire).

Fish constitutes one of the principal sources of proteins in the majority of African countries such as Côte d'Ivoire. However, its production is subjected to various constraints primarily of nutritional nature. This study was initiated to determine the plant base diet of local fish Distichodus rostratus for its valorisation in aquaculture. The micro-histological method was applied to the stomach contents and aquatic plants inventoried in Ahondo (Taabo Lake) in order to determine floristic composition of consumed food by D. rostratus. After treatment in sodium hypochlorite, the epidermis of plants were observed using an optic microscope and compared. The results revealed that the plant species consumed by this Fish species were, essentially, Ipomoea aquatica, Echinochloa pyramidalis, Polygonum senegalense and Pycreus macrostachys.Keywords : Distichodus rostratus, diet, epidermis, Aquatic plants, Macrophytis

Protective effects of exogenous and endogenous hydrogen sulfide in mast cell-mediated pruritus and cutaneous acute inflammation in mice.

Published onlineJournal ArticleThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.The recently described 'gasomediator' hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been involved in pain mechanisms, but its effect on pruritus, a sensory modality that similarly to pain acts as a protective mechanism, is poorly known and controversial. The effects of the slow-releasing (GYY4137) and spontaneous H2S donors (Na2S and Lawesson's reagent, LR) were evaluated in histamine and compound 48/80 (C48/80)-dependent dorsal skin pruritus and inflammation in male BALB/c mice. Animals were intradermally (i.d.) injected with C48/80 (3μg/site) or histamine (1μmol/site) alone or co-injected with Na2S, LR or GYY4137 (within the 0.3-100nmol range). The involvement of endogenous H2S and KATP channel-dependent mechanism were also evaluated. Pruritus was assessed by the number of scratching bouts, whilst skin inflammation was evaluated by the extravascular accumulation of intravenously injected (125)I-albumin (plasma extravasation) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity (neutrophil recruitment). Histamine or C48/80 significantly evoked itching behavior paralleled by plasma extravasation and increased MPO activity. Na2S and LR significantly ameliorated histamine or C48/80-induced pruritus and inflammation, although these effects were less pronounced or absent with GYY4137. Inhibition of endogenous H2S synthesis exacerbated C48/80-induced responses, whereas the blockade of KATP channels by glibenclamide did not. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) revealed that Na2S and LR, but not GYY4137, significantly attenuated C48/80-induced histamine release from rat peritoneal mast cell in vitro. We provide first evidences that H2S exerted protective effect against acute pruritus mediated via histaminergic pathways in murine skin, thus making of H2S donors a potential alternative/complementary therapy for treatment of acute pruritus.Sao Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp grant numbers: 2013/04.151-3, 2014/15.576-8, 2014/24.518-1) and CNPq (grant number: 163278/2012-1). GDN, MNM and SKPC are recipients of fellowships from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). We thank Irene M Gouvea, Flávia B de Lira and Mauro Sucupira for their techinical support

Generating political commitment for ending malnutrition in all its forms: A system dynamics approach for strengthening nutrition actor networks.

Generating political commitment for ending all forms of malnutrition represents a key challenge for the global nutrition community. Without commitment, the policies, programs, and resources needed to improve nutrition are unlikely to be adopted, effectively implemented, nor sustained. One essential driver of commitment is nutrition actor network (NAN) effectiveness, the web of individuals and organizations operating within a given country who share a common interest in improving nutrition and who act collectively to do so. To inform new thinking and action towards strengthening NAN effectiveness, we use a systems dynamics theoretical approach and literature review to build initial causal loop diagrams (CLDs) of political commitment and NAN effectiveness and a qualitative group model building (GMB) method involving an expert workshop to strengthen model validity. First, a "nutrition commitment system" CLD demonstrates how five interrelated forms of commitment-rhetorical, institutional, operational, embedded, and system-wide-can dynamically reinforce or diminish one another over time. Second, we present CLDs demonstrating factors shaping NAN effectiveness organized into three categories: actor features, resources, and capacities; framing strategies, evidence, and norms; and institutional, political, and societal contexts. Together, these models generate hypotheses on how political commitment and NAN effectiveness could be strengthened in future and may provide potential starting points for country-specific conversations for doing so

Diffractive Higgs Production by AdS Pomeron Fusion

The double diffractive Higgs production at central rapidity is formulated in terms of the fusion of two AdS gravitons/Pomerons first introduced by Brower, Polchinski, Strassler and Tan in elastic scattering. Here we propose a simple self-consistent holographic framework capable of providing phenomenologically compelling estimates of diffractive cross sections at the LHC. As in the traditional weak coupling approach, we anticipate that several phenomenological parameters must be tested and calibrated through factorization for a self-consistent description of other diffractive process such as total cross sections, deep inelastic scattering and heavy quark production in the central region.Comment: 53 pages, 8 figure

Correlation Functions of Large N Chern-Simons-Matter Theories and Bosonization in Three Dimensions

We consider the conformal field theory of N complex massless scalars in 2+1 dimensions, coupled to a U(N) Chern-Simons theory at level k. This theory has a 't Hooft large N limit, keeping fixed \lambda = N/k. We compute some correlation functions in this theory exactly as a function of \lambda, in the large N (planar) limit. We show that the results match with the general predictions of Maldacena and Zhiboedov for the correlators of theories that have high-spin symmetries in the large N limit. It has been suggested in the past that this theory is dual (in the large N limit) to the Legendre transform of the theory of fermions coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field, and our results allow us to find the precise mapping between the two theories. We find that in the large N limit the theory of N scalars coupled to a U(N)_k Chern-Simons theory is equivalent to the Legendre transform of the theory of k fermions coupled to a U(k)_N Chern-Simons theory, thus providing a bosonization of the latter theory. We conjecture that perhaps this duality is valid also for finite values of N and k, where on the fermionic side we should now have (for N_f flavors) a U(k)_{N-N_f/2} theory. Similar results hold for real scalars (fermions) coupled to the O(N)_k Chern-Simons theory.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures. v2: added reference

A Novel Mutation in the Upstream Open Reading Frame of the CDKN1B Gene Causes a MEN4 Phenotype

PubMed ID: 23555276This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Early and Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Occupations in Western Amazonia: The Hidden Shell Middens

We report on previously unknown early archaeological sites in the Bolivian lowlands, demonstrating for the first time early and middle Holocene human presence in western Amazonia. Multidisciplinary research in forest islands situated in seasonally-inundated savannahs has revealed stratified shell middens produced by human foragers as early as 10,000 years ago, making them the oldest archaeological sites in the region. The absence of stone resources and partial burial by recent alluvial sediments has meant that these kinds of deposits have, until now, remained unidentified. We conducted core sampling, archaeological excavations and an interdisciplinary study of the stratigraphy and recovered materials from three shell midden mounds. Based on multiple lines of evidence, including radiocarbon dating, sedimentary proxies (elements, steroids and black carbon), micromorphology and faunal analysis, we demonstrate the anthropogenic origin and antiquity of these sites. In a tropical and geomorphologically active landscape often considered challenging both for early human occupation and for the preservation of hunter-gatherer sites, the newly discovered shell middens provide evidence for early to middle Holocene occupation and illustrate the potential for identifying and interpreting early open-air archaeological sites in western Amazonia. The existence of early hunter-gatherer sites in the Bolivian lowlands sheds new light on the region's past and offers a new context within which the late Holocene "Earthmovers" of the Llanos de Moxos could have emerged. © 2013 Lombardo et al

Live Imaging at the Onset of Cortical Neurogenesis Reveals Differential Appearance of the Neuronal Phenotype in Apical versus Basal Progenitor Progeny

The neurons of the mammalian brain are generated by progenitors dividing either at the apical surface of the ventricular zone (neuroepithelial and radial glial cells, collectively referred to as apical progenitors) or at its basal side (basal progenitors, also called intermediate progenitors). For apical progenitors, the orientation of the cleavage plane relative to their apical-basal axis is thought to be of critical importance for the fate of the daughter cells. For basal progenitors, the relationship between cell polarity, cleavage plane orientation and the fate of daughter cells is unknown. Here, we have investigated these issues at the very onset of cortical neurogenesis. To directly observe the generation of neurons from apical and basal progenitors, we established a novel transgenic mouse line in which membrane GFP is expressed from the beta-III-tubulin promoter, an early pan-neuronal marker, and crossed this line with a previously described knock-in line in which nuclear GFP is expressed from the Tis21 promoter, a pan-neurogenic progenitor marker. Mitotic Tis21-positive basal progenitors nearly always divided symmetrically, generating two neurons, but, in contrast to symmetrically dividing apical progenitors, lacked apical-basal polarity and showed a nearly randomized cleavage plane orientation. Moreover, the appearance of beta-III-tubulin–driven GFP fluorescence in basal progenitor-derived neurons, in contrast to that in apical progenitor-derived neurons, was so rapid that it suggested the initiation of the neuronal phenotype already in the progenitor. Our observations imply that (i) the loss of apical-basal polarity restricts neuronal progenitors to the symmetric mode of cell division, and that (ii) basal progenitors initiate the expression of neuronal phenotype already before mitosis, in contrast to apical progenitors

Metformin intervention prevents cardiac dysfunction in a murine model of adult congenital heart disease

OBJECTIVE: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most frequent birth defect worldwide. The number of adult patients with CHD, now referred to as ACHD, is increasing with improved surgical and treatment interventions. However the mechanisms whereby ACHD predisposes patients to heart dysfunction are still unclear. ACHD is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome, but how ACHD interacts with poor modern lifestyle choices and other comorbidities, such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, is mostly unknown. METHODS: We used a newly characterized mouse genetic model of ACHD to investigate the consequences and the mechanisms associated with combined obesity and ACHD predisposition. Metformin intervention was used to further evaluate potential therapeutic amelioration of cardiac dysfunction in this model. RESULTS: ACHD mice placed under metabolic stress (high fat diet) displayed decreased left ventricular ejection fraction. Comprehensive physiological, biochemical, and molecular analysis showed that ACHD hearts exhibited early changes in energy metabolism with increased glucose dependence as main cardiac energy source. These changes preceded cardiac dysfunction mediated by exposure to high fat diet and were associated with increased disease severity. Restoration of metabolic balance by metformin administration prevented the development of heart dysfunction in ACHD predisposed mice. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals that early metabolic impairment reinforces heart dysfunction in ACHD predisposed individuals and diet or pharmacological interventions can be used to modulate heart function and attenuate heart failure. Our study suggests that interactions between genetic and metabolic disturbances ultimately lead to the clinical presentation of heart failure in patients with ACHD. Early manipulation of energy metabolism may be an important avenue for intervention in ACHD patients to prevent or delay onset of heart failure and secondary comorbidities. These interactions raise the prospect for a translational reassessment of ACHD presentation in the clinic

Hydrogen sulfide donors alleviate itch secondary to the activation of type-2 protease activated receptors (PAR-2) in mice.

Published onlineJOURNAL ARTICLEHydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been highlighted as an endogenous signaling molecule and we have previously found that it can inhibit histamine-mediated itching. Pruritus is the most common symptom of cutaneous diseases and anti-histamines are the usual treatment; however, anti-histamine-resistant pruritus is common in some clinical settings. In this way, the involvement of mediators other than histamine in the context of pruritus requires new therapeutic targets. Considering that the activation of proteinase-activated receptor 2 (PAR-2) is involved in pruritus both in rodents and humans, in this study we investigated the effect of H2S donors on the acute scratching behavior mediated by PAR-2 activation in mice, as well as some of the possible pharmacological mechanisms involved. The intradermal injection of the PAR-2 peptide agonist SLIGRL-NH2 (8-80nmol) caused a dose-dependent scratching that was unaffected by intraperitoneal pre-treatment with the histamine H1 antagonist pyrilamine (30mg/kg). Co-injection of SLIGRL-NH2 (40nmol) with either the slow-release H2S donor GYY4137 (1 and 3nmol) or the spontaneous donor NaHS (1 and 0.3nmol) significantly reduced pruritus. Co-treatment with the KATP channel blocker glibenclamide (200nmol) or the nitric oxide (NO) donor sodium nitroprusside (10nmol) abolished the antipruritic effects of NaHS; however, the specific soluble guanylyl cyclase inhibitor ODQ (30μg) had no significant effects. The transient receptor potential ankyrin type 1 (TRPA1) antagonist HC-030031 (20μg) significantly reduced SLIGRL-NH2-induced pruritus; however pruritus induced by the TRPA1 agonist AITC (1000nmol) was unaffected by NaHS. Based on these data, we conclude that pruritus secondary to PAR-2 activation can be reduced by H2S, which acts through KATP channel opening and involves NO in a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-independent manner. Furthermore, TRPA1 receptors mediate the pruritus induced by activation of PAR-2, but H2S does not interfere with this pathway. These results provide additional support for the development of new therapeutical alternatives, mainly intended for treatment of pruritus in patients unresponsive to anti-histamines.MNM and SKPC are recipients of fellowships from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and grants from the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). RT, MW and MEW would like to thank the Brian Ridge Scholarship for its support (RT)